Statement from Alexandra Forter Sirota, Director of the Budget & Tax Center, on the final budget

The NC House gave final approval (66-44) Saturday to a $21.1 Billion state budget. The measure now heads to Gov. McCrory, who said on Friday he would be proud to sign it.

The Director of the NC Budget & Tax Center says the plan places our state on an unsustainable path. Here’s the full statement from Alexandra Forter Sirota:

North Carolinians want a quality education for their children, safe and healthy communities, and protections for those in need, but the final budget fails to reflect these priorities in a fiscally responsible way.

Instead, the budget puts North Carolina on an unsustainable path because policymakers have failed to stop the costly tax cuts that will continue to erode the state’s ability to invest in the building blocks a strong economy.

7 Comments

Alex

August 3, 2014 at 7:47 pm

Many of the items referenced about the budget are factually incorrect. All of the talk about cutting the education budget has been totally wrong, and was fact-checked in a recent article on many of the ads that are being run on TV by various PAC organizations.The article says :
“When we looked at North Carolina’s education budget year to year, it has increased every year since Tillis became speaker in 2011. According to a document prepared by the General Assembly, the state education budget was $10.8 billion in the 2010-11 fiscal year and $11.5 billion for 2014-15. (These numbers are adjusted for inflation and include both K-12 and higher education spending.)Additionally, state expenditure per pupil for K-12 has increased since 2011 — from $5,156 in 2011 to $5,395 in 2013.Education spending in North Carolina comes from a combination of federal, state and local dollars. State funding accounts for more than 62 percent of expenditures.So did Women Vote pull that $500 million cut out of thin air? The facts don’t support the argument.”

For the 2013-15 budget, the state budget office proposed a continuation budget of about $23.6 billion for those two years to maintain the status quo across K-12 and higher education. The budget that state lawmakers passed came up to about $23.1 billion. In total, lawmakers allocated $481 million less than the the continuation budget suggested. (EMILY’s List and Hagan’s campaign pointed us to this when we asked about the ad.)

That shortfall ended up dividing the political parties in North Carolina: Last year, Tillis took to the floor to push lawmakers to pass the budget, while Democrats bashed the bill primarily because they believed the education allocations weren’t adequate. The bill passed 65-53 in the House and 32-17 in the Senate, with no Democratic votes in favor.

It’s important to note that the Legislature’s choosing to fund at levels lower than the continuation budget is not a literal budget cut. In raw dollars, the state is spending more money than in previous years.

Alan

August 4, 2014 at 4:17 pm

Ah, looks like LSD’s “huge increase” in public spending is getting a rerun?

Which PAC?

Alex

August 4, 2014 at 6:50 pm

It’s hard to argue the numbers and the truth Alan ! It is what it is !